Ahead of the game... MARION MCMULLEN marks 90 years of Monopoly

THE British intelligence corps built a specially Monopoly set during the Second World War to send to wartime prisoners in camps across Germany.

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The classic board game is celebrating 90 years this month.

It contained hidden escape tools like silk maps of European countries, mini compasses, real money, metal files and knives.

Fake charities were set up to send the board game to prisoner of war camps and it is thought they helped nearly 200,000 to escape.

The escape kits were so well hidden within the Monopoly sets that none were ever discovered by the German guards. Even the weight was the same as an ordinary box of Monopoly so that it would not arouse suspicion.

The Parker Brothers first began selling the game for $2 in American department stores in Philadelphia in 1935 and within a year it was the bestselling board game in the US.

They acquired the rights from unemployed engineer Charles Darrow. His early version featured handwritten cards and houses and hotels made out of scrap wood, and he was inspired by The Landlord's Game that was created by stenographer Lizzie Magie in 1904. She later sold her patent to the Parker Brothers for $500 in 1935.

The early Monopoly games did not feature any of the familiar tokens and competitors were initially told to use items like buttons or coins to make their way around the board.